Lindsey Graham Utterly Embarrassed During Pathetic Defense of Trump
Senator Lindsay Graham struggled to justify Donald Trump’s outrageous behavior on Sunday, including the former president’s brutal dismissal of his longtime ally.During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper confronted Graham with Trump’s dismissive comments about him. Last week, Graham had told Meet the Press that Trump “the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election.” Tapper told Graham that Trump had responded to his urging to focus on policy, and played a clip of the former president speaking about the South Carolina Republican. “Look, I like Lindsey. I don’t care what he says, okay?” Trump said during a CBS exclusive interview. “Lindsey wouldn’t have been elected if I didn’t endorse him. So you know, South Carolina—Lindsey’s my friend—but if I didn’t endorse, he would’ve had no chance of getting elected.”Graham chuckled awkwardly when faced with Trump’s harsh dismissal. “Well, I talked to him a couple of days ago now, and all I can say is that President Trump, when he was president of our country, we had the most secure border in 40 years, gas was at $1.87, Russia wasn’t invading Ukraine, the Arabs were making peace with the Israelis. He’s got a lot to be proud of,” Graham replied, continuing to heap praise on the Republican nominee. “Me and him are good,” Graham added, attempting to sidestep Trump’s derisive response. “We’re going to be together. I’m going to Georgia with him. We’re going to try to have a unity event in Georgia to bring this whole party together. I will be by his side in this election. I am proud of what he did as our president. I look forward to him coming back.”Throughout his interview, however, Graham continued to express significant differences of opinion from the candidate he was desperately backing. At one point, Tapper asked Graham, a staunch anti-abortion Republican, to respond to a post on Truth Social where Trump promised his administration would be “great for women and their reproductive rights.” “What exactly is Donald Trump going to do to help women’s reproductive rights’” Tapper asked.Graham couldn’t account for the president’s statement at all. “I don’t know, you need to ask him about that,” Graham replied, insisting that Trump was a “very good pro-life president.”“He’s gonna leave the abortion issue to the states. He doesn’t believe there is a role for the federal government, my position has always been to be against late-term abortion. It’s a state issue—up to a point,” Graham said. He added that he had a bill that banned abortion after 15 weeks, which is not late-term. That bill was so unpopular, even within his own party, that it never made it to a floor vote.Tapper: What exactly is Donald Trump going to do to quote “help women's reproductive rights?”Graham: You’d have to ask him about that pic.twitter.com/2rMIi62OC4— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2024Trump’s sudden, and baseless, declaration to advocate for women’s health has led to backlash from his anti-abortion supporters, who feel they have been abandoned by the Republican Party platform as it moves further from a federal ban. On Sunday, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance said that Trump would veto a national abortion ban. Tapper also questioned Graham about an upcoming gala to support January 6 rioters, which is set to be held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. It’s unclear as of yet whether Trump will actually attend the event. “Do you think it’s a mistake for him to go, and is it a mistake for this event to be taking place at Bedminster at all?” Tapper asked. Graham said that those who stormed the U.S. Capitol “should go to jail, they committed a crime.” But he tried to equate Trump’s support for the rioters to Kamala Harris’s efforts to raise bail money for protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the riots over the death of George Floyd. “So, when it comes to the parties condoning violence, I would say we both should knock it off in that regard,” Graham said. When pressed on whether Trump should allow the fundraiser, Graham once again couldn’t explain the actions of the candidate he’d come to praise.“Well, I’ll let him—there are people being held I think that have had their due process rights violated, quite frankly they haven’t been brought to trial yet, I don’t like that very much,” Graham said. “But I’ll leave it up to him, as to what caused his support.”Tapper: So you don't think that Donald Trump should allow this fundraiser at bedminster?Graham: There are people are being held I think that have had their due process rights violated pic.twitter.com/bkZPObJFAz— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2024
Senator Lindsay Graham struggled to justify Donald Trump’s outrageous behavior on Sunday, including the former president’s brutal dismissal of his longtime ally.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper confronted Graham with Trump’s dismissive comments about him.
Last week, Graham had told Meet the Press that Trump “the provocateur, the showman, may not win this election.” Tapper told Graham that Trump had responded to his urging to focus on policy, and played a clip of the former president speaking about the South Carolina Republican.
“Look, I like Lindsey. I don’t care what he says, okay?” Trump said during a CBS exclusive interview. “Lindsey wouldn’t have been elected if I didn’t endorse him. So you know, South Carolina—Lindsey’s my friend—but if I didn’t endorse, he would’ve had no chance of getting elected.”
Graham chuckled awkwardly when faced with Trump’s harsh dismissal.
“Well, I talked to him a couple of days ago now, and all I can say is that President Trump, when he was president of our country, we had the most secure border in 40 years, gas was at $1.87, Russia wasn’t invading Ukraine, the Arabs were making peace with the Israelis. He’s got a lot to be proud of,” Graham replied, continuing to heap praise on the Republican nominee.
“Me and him are good,” Graham added, attempting to sidestep Trump’s derisive response. “We’re going to be together. I’m going to Georgia with him. We’re going to try to have a unity event in Georgia to bring this whole party together. I will be by his side in this election. I am proud of what he did as our president. I look forward to him coming back.”
Throughout his interview, however, Graham continued to express significant differences of opinion from the candidate he was desperately backing. At one point, Tapper asked Graham, a staunch anti-abortion Republican, to respond to a post on Truth Social where Trump promised his administration would be “great for women and their reproductive rights.”
“What exactly is Donald Trump going to do to help women’s reproductive rights’” Tapper asked.
Graham couldn’t account for the president’s statement at all. “I don’t know, you need to ask him about that,” Graham replied, insisting that Trump was a “very good pro-life president.”
“He’s gonna leave the abortion issue to the states. He doesn’t believe there is a role for the federal government, my position has always been to be against late-term abortion. It’s a state issue—up to a point,” Graham said. He added that he had a bill that banned abortion after 15 weeks, which is not late-term. That bill was so unpopular, even within his own party, that it never made it to a floor vote.
Tapper: What exactly is Donald Trump going to do to quote “help women's reproductive rights?”
Graham: You’d have to ask him about that pic.twitter.com/2rMIi62OC4— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2024
Trump’s sudden, and baseless, declaration to advocate for women’s health has led to backlash from his anti-abortion supporters, who feel they have been abandoned by the Republican Party platform as it moves further from a federal ban. On Sunday, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance said that Trump would veto a national abortion ban.
Tapper also questioned Graham about an upcoming gala to support January 6 rioters, which is set to be held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. It’s unclear as of yet whether Trump will actually attend the event.
“Do you think it’s a mistake for him to go, and is it a mistake for this event to be taking place at Bedminster at all?” Tapper asked.
Graham said that those who stormed the U.S. Capitol “should go to jail, they committed a crime.” But he tried to equate Trump’s support for the rioters to Kamala Harris’s efforts to raise bail money for protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the riots over the death of George Floyd.
“So, when it comes to the parties condoning violence, I would say we both should knock it off in that regard,” Graham said.
When pressed on whether Trump should allow the fundraiser, Graham once again couldn’t explain the actions of the candidate he’d come to praise.
“Well, I’ll let him—there are people being held I think that have had their due process rights violated, quite frankly they haven’t been brought to trial yet, I don’t like that very much,” Graham said. “But I’ll leave it up to him, as to what caused his support.”
Tapper: So you don't think that Donald Trump should allow this fundraiser at bedminster?
Graham: There are people are being held I think that have had their due process rights violated pic.twitter.com/bkZPObJFAz— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2024
